There are no cool vampires inwards “Blood Relatives,” a good-natured horror comedy well-nigh Francis, a leather-jacket-wearing bloodsucker who reunites alongside his estranged, one-half-human teenage girl.

Character role player turned writer/managing director Noah Segan introduces us to Francis (also Segan) by showing us his vintage musculus car, a Barracuda, equally it pulls into Texas too forthwith breaks downward. “Oy vey,” Francis says. He may be a predator, but Francis is also an outsider, a Jew, as well as now, a bring up. There’s more than Yiddish scattered throughout “Blood Relatives,” and it’s well-nigh every bit schticky as well as uncool every bit yous power expect. Thankfully, Francis’ a-little-also-nice guy vibe also suits Segan, a staple of Rian Johnson’s movies since “Brick.”

Francis may live the atomic number 82 protagonist in “Blood Relatives,” his debut characteristic every bit a managing director, but he’s not the existent star. That would be Victoria Moroles, who plays Jane, Francis’ moody and inquisitive daughter. Most of “Blood Relatives” concerns Jane’s frustrated attempts at bonding amongst as well as existence accepted past her father. It’s exciting to run across Segan not only educate Moroles’ grapheme but also oftentimes allow her pocket scenes from him. That’s likely the most surprising thing almost Segan’s film: it’s a 2-hander that leans more heavily on its co-atomic number 82 than its multihyphenate star.

Segan deliberately refuses to play to his strengths equally Francis, a neurotic grapheme whose predatory mystique is constantly challenged too second-guessed past secondary characters. Because optics matter, every bit 1 character puts it, whether nosotros similar it or not, as well as blasting Wagner’s “Gotterdamerung” inwards your flashy motorcar tends to depict attention, even at the edge of town.

In this tongue-in-cheek way, Segan gets some mileage out of Francis’ obvious behaviour past playing amongst our generic expectations. So Francis asks for permission earlier entering whatever edifice, because he’s a vampire. He also tries to be polite whenever addressing diverse human characters, because he’s a prissy Jewish boy, no affair how many centuries old.

Jane doesn’t tending virtually whatsoever of that. She cuts Francis downward to size alongside a quick, truthful-offense-podcast-fix spiel nearly how he met her belatedly female parent. Then Jane inserts herself into Francis’ life, despite his whiny protests. “Sorry if this doesn’t fit your narrative,” she shrugs. Moroles is very skilful amongst that detail combination of snappy pouting too thing-of-fact sass.

Segan also did well to play to his co-Pb’s strengths, which carries “Blood Relatives” during its emotionally muted scenes. Francis drives himself in addition to his girl around, too she repeatedly proves that she doesn’t need him in the ways that he thinks she does. Because his loaded expectations are unremarkably based on a total lack of experience, equally a bring up in addition to a social animate being, so Francis often plays to a type that he entirely selectively fits.

Segan’s reactive instincts seem to live responsible for the most satisfying and frustrating parts of “Blood Relatives.” He’s real deferential to Moroles together with her character, sometimes to the bespeak where it seems like he’s more than invested in proving a bespeak—Jane’s stiff enough to be genuinely independent!—than inwards telling a floor. A few scenes kickoff and halt alongside over-extended conceptual gags together with dialogue, which inadvertently puts too much dramatic stress on the ensemble cast’s otherwise potent performances. It’s also hard non to take heed a fearful immature creative person’s self-conscious, but accurate self-diagnosis when Francis tells Jane that she has a vivid time to come “writing schtick.” This is also funny, especially coming from a vampire whose usage of Yiddish words like “fakakte” as well as “meshugenner” audio as authentic equally Segan’s leather jacket looks. “You aspect like y’all’re dressed similar the Fonz for Halloween, every twenty-four hours,” Jane says. There’s a line for everything inward “Blood Relatives,” for better together with worse.

That said, Moroles’ functioning, combined alongside Segan’s patient management and generous pacing, does take “Blood Relatives” a fair style. Not all of the jokes land, but their execution is ordinarily good enough cheers to Segan’s attending to dialogue and infectious dearest of chintzy Americana.

Segan also does a keen chore of highlighting the unglamorous features of various inwards-between spaces, from the pre-packaged pastries at the Days for Nite motel’s reception desk to the cluttered interior of a pawnshop run by multi-hyphenate Austin comedian/actor/cartoonist John Gholson. “Blood Relatives” isn’t e’er a cracking comedy about vampires, or fathers together with daughters, but it is a charming route motion-picture show.

Then at that place’s the whole Jewish thing. It’s squeamish to run into a “Jewish flick”—“Oy gevalt!”—that somehow doesn’t rehash generational trauma through the schmutz-caked lens of bad ethnic humor. And if “Blood Relatives” is a Jewish motion-picture show, that’s mainly because Segan appears genuinely, exhaustingly concerned with giving credit as well as consideration to everyone but himself. Segan should likely be more selfish adjacent fourth dimension he directs himself. This time, Segan’s efforts to live both sensitive together with knowing are commendable, fifty-fifty if the balance of the motion picture sometimes isn’t.